The present invention relates to a vehicle braking system, and more particularly a brake system in which brake operation is electronically regulated in accordance with various braking criteria.
An electronically controlled vehicle braking system of this type, also referred to by the abbreviated term "EBS", is disclosed for example in European Patent Application EP 0 798 615 A1. In such EBS, initiation and desired degree of a braking action by a driver is transmitted in the form of a brake value signal to braking system electronics, which then correspondingly regulate actuation of the vehicle braking system in accordance with the driver's intentions.
In addition, the braking system electronics are often designed to ensure a directionally stable braking behavior of the vehicle, antiskid protection and uniform brake wear. For this purpose, additional signals are therefore processed by the braking system electronics, such as for example, wheel speed signals received from sensors provided as part of the braking system and/or transmitted via a vehicle data bus. It is furthermore common practice to design the braking system electronics to provide drive slip control (DSC) by controlled actuation of the braking system when the wheel speed sensors indicate a spinning tendency on at least one driven wheel.
In the disclosed EBS, yawing speed sensors, a steering angle sensor, and a transverse acceleration sensor transmit signals, in addition to the above mentioned wheel speed signals, to an electronic travel dynamics system of the vehicle braking system. The electronic travel dynamics system monitors the vehicle transverse stability in every travel state of the vehicle, determining the tendency of the vehicle to skid based upon the values of the received signals, and controls the vehicle braking system, or intervenes in its control through the braking system electronics in a manner consistently ensuring optimal transverse stability of the vehicle.
Although describing the physical principles attendant such an EBS vehicle braking system and the basic operation thereof, the above-mentioned EP publication fails to provide guidance regarding effective solutions and arrangement possibilities of the components required to realize the braking system in practice.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to propose advantageous solutions and arrangements of the components of such an EBS which may be implemented in a practical manner.